The Center for Craniofacial Anomalies of the A. Lincoln School of Medicine of the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago is a multidisciplinary organization that provides comprehensive care for patients with congenital, developmental and acquired malformations. The Center contributes to special training programs in the health sciences and conducts clinical and laboratory research. The major research thrust is a continuing longitudinal growth study to study the natural history of various malformations. The data base includes case histories, photos, study casts, cephalometric and tomographic radiographs, audiometric and speech records on nearly 5000 subjects. Current projects focus on the epidemiology and genetics of congenital palatopharyngeal incompetence and hemifacial microsomia. Early treatment of serous otitis in children with cleft palate is being investigated under controlled conditions. Results of craniofacial surgery for orbital hypertelorism, Apert and Crouzon syndromes, hemifacial microsomia, and mandibulofacial dysostosis are evaluated in terms of subsequent growth and functional studies involving eye motility, vision, speech and hearing. Screening programs are underway to determine the frequency and type of cardiac anomalies; frequency of ophthalmopathy in patients at risk for retinal detachment (Robin and Stickler syndromes). Clues derived from clinical investigation have led to electronmicroscopic studies in ectodermal dysplasia and abnormalities of mucopolysaccharide metabolism in cleft palate and Apert syndrome in an effort to elucidate pathogenetic mechanisms.